Clearwater Beach

Yet another white sand Florida beach, palm trees and deep blue sky...... Clearwater Beach was the first Florida beach I visited (escape from endless walking around Orlando Theme parks).....not during Spring Break as you can see.
Live Clearwater Beach Cam

Dragon

Universal Studios may have Jurassic Park but tucked away in Busch Gardens is the fantastic Komodo Dragon lizard. Why so impressive ?...largest lizard in the world, ancestry dating back 100 million years and best of all, has the capability to kill its prey just by biting and leaving its saliva kill the victim over the following hours. One bite, hang around then munch on the meal. Impressive.

Spaceship Earth

The Spaceship Earth building is spectacular, as it changes colour from the different sun positions throughout the day you can take some spectacular photos, this is not one of them. Think of Florida weather and you think of endless sunshine, this was the first time we had seen a "British" sky while there, the difference was that instead of grey skies for days on end this had gone by the afternoon. It is always worth a trip over to Epcot just to see this building.

Atlas-Agena

My first recollection of space travel was Apollo 8, for some reason there was a lot of excitement and press coverage at the time (first around the Moon ?). That interest was increased after being given Waddington's Blast-off! game, exploring the challenges of space flight with a piece of card and some plastic rockets !

Then very early one morning in 1969 I was woken up by my Dad and we sat if front of the Black and White TV to watch a man in a spacesuit step on to the moon....amazing. I did not realise just how amazing until I finally got a chance to visit the Kennedy Space Center 20 years later. In the Rocket Garden were a collection of rockets of the era, seeing these machines up close you realise they are giant tin cans .... how they ever got into space and be controlled by primitive computers is mind boggling.

This Atlas-Agena probably preceeded the Apollo Saturn rocket by only about 4 years, the injenuity and bravery of the people who designed, built and flew these rockets throughout the 60's is something to admire, to stand by some of them in the Rocket Garden, even after a 20 year wait, is really something special.

Boca Grande Lighthouse

Beautiful lighthouse building, now a museum, only spoilt by the metal fence surrounding the property, nice little beach to while away time watching boats and spotting iguanas on the way back to the car park. Seeing iguanas is fascinating but apprently not appreciated by the locals. Neither Hurricance Wilma or Hurricane Charley present on this day thank goodness.
Boca Grande webcam
BeachBum's guide

Conch sunset

Palm tree, water and sunset, a perfect end to another relaxing day in the Keys. How many people motor down US1 to Key West without stopping to appreciate the places on the way ? I did, until we discovered the tranquility of staying in the Middle Keys, in this case Conch Key.
Conch Key Cottages

Ritual

There is so much publicity about watching sunsets at Key West that as a visitor you don't realise that this is a ritual that takes place along the west coast. The wooden pier at Naples is swamped with people saying goodbye to the day, the pier even appears to have its own website. You get the feeling that Naples considers itself better than the rest of Florida but even here you can have your car broken into while at the beach sunset ritual, as happened in the pier car park while we were there. Perhaps those that have considerably less than some of the multi-millionaires who have their houses here were trying to re-balance the wealth. That said, Naples is a great place to visit or stay.

Poser

Pelicans always reminded me of an exotic TV show memory from the 60's so to finally see one for real brought home how exotic Florida is when you first visit...it all seemed so far away in the 60's, another world. That TV series turned out to be Flipper staring Pete the Pelican.

Are they all natural stars ? This one seems to have found a role in life. I was so busy taking his photo I didn't read the sign at the time, not very observant but definitely lucky.

Seven Mile Bridges

Driving South along the Seven Mile Bridge, just as you drive down the incline, there is a great view as the bridge streches in front for a few more miles and the blue sea lies each side. Problem is how do you take a photo while driving ? This is the view from the Marathon side with the new bridge on the left with the historical bridge on the right.

Mustang

One of the good things about America is that complete strangers talk to you. We rented a Mustang not knowing that it was a new model and found that not only were people looking at it but they wanted to ask questions, get an opinion. This takes a bit of getting used to for a typically reserved Brit.

How good was it ?.... I would rather have a Ferrarri.

Miami Beach - the other one

Mention Miami and people talk about Miami Beach, they always refer to South Beach but Crandon Park Beach is really a great place to visit if you want to relax. Loads of clean sand, palm trees to shade from the hot sun...paradise in the city ! As you drive along Key Biscayne its tempting to stop off at one of the beaches on either side of the road but its worth paying the small car parking price for this beach...loads of spaces, plenty of park with BBQ spots and all this fantastic sand.

Went there at Easter and the place was buzzing, people everywhere, all the locals enjoying the break down at the beach. Went there in October and the place was deserted except for a few lifeguards...so quiet and peaceful. If ever there was a picture/place/memory to cheer up a cold grey winters day this is one of them. When you have had all the Malls you can handle this is the place to go.

20,000 leagues under the sea

It all started 17 years ago, leaving England on a cold and wet October day and landing in the sunny warmth of Orlando. First stop Walt Disney World (of course) and one of the first rides was the submarine "trip" of 20,000 leagues under the sea...sea monsters and brave divers. No longer there which is a real shame.

Shark Valley

What's the most exciting tourist activity in Florida ?....Disney World rides ? More Malls than your wallet can cope with ? Skimming the water in an airboat ?

Shark Valley ! Hire a bike at the start point, take on board the advice to give any gator on the road a wide berth and get peddling along the 7 mile track to the observation tower.

Very soon you realise that the road is about 15 feet wide and the gators are longer than that .... and they can run fast.
And that is 7 miles there and 7 miles back, plenty of time to get used to the fact that the bikes brake by backward peddling.

This is getting close to nature....beats the theme parks every time !